Fastening device



Sept. 11, 1956 N. SWERDLOW FASTENING DEVICE Filed March 25, 1955Inventor Nathan Swerdlovv, b5 a His ttorn e5.

United States Patent FASTENING DEVICE Nathan Swerdlow, Philadelphia,Pa., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication March 25, 1955, Serial No. 496,850

6 Claims. (Cl. 189-46) This invention relates to a fastening device andmore particularly to a simple, low cost combination hinge and clampingdevice particularly well suited for fastening access covers.

In many types of apparatus it is frequently necessary to provide ahinged access cover or door which is arranged to be clamped against acompressible gasket in order to seal an opening in the apparatus. Ifsuch a gasket is located closely adjacent the hinge, there is a dangerthat the cover, in swinging about its hinge, will unevenly compress anddecompress the gasket, thereby rapidly destroying the sealing ability ofthe gasket. Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide,for a hinged cover which is arranged to be clamped against acompressible gasket, a novel fastening device which combines both hingeand clamping means and requires that the gasket be evenly and uniformlydecompressed before the cover can be swung about the hinge.

Frequently, apparatus which is provided with a hinged access orinspection cover is located in a relatively unaccessible area, so thatit may be diflicult and inconvenient to open the cover if the cover ishinged in only one fixed relationship with respect to the apparatus.Accordingly, a further object of this invention is to provde a fasteningmeans which is easily releasable to facilitate opening of an accesscover, and which also permits locating the hinged edge of the cover inany one of a plurality of alternative locations adjacent the openingwhich is being covered.

Another object of this invention is to provide a combination hinge andclamping device which is extremely simple and inexpensive to manufactureand assemble, and which utilizes certain parts that are interchangeablewith corresponding parts of simple clamping members that are usedwithout hinge members.

In carrying out my invention in one form, a frame is provided with acover having at least one hinge member rigidly fixed thereto. Acompressible gasket may be disposed between frame and cover. Inaddition, I provide a combination hinge and clamping device whichcomprises a hinge portion pivotally engageable with the hinge memberwhich is fixed to the cover thereby to form a hinge, and a movableclamping portion disposed for releasable clamping engagement with thecover. The frame is provided with a suitable mounting means adjacent anedge of the cover for this combination hinge and clamping device, andthe cover is thereby clamped to the frame. The clamping portion of thedevice must be unfastened, thereby releasing the cover and decompressingthe gasket, before the cover can be freed to pivot about its hinge.

In one aspect of my invention, the aforesaid cover comprises a generallysquare plate having a pair of spaced apart hinge members along one edge.A pair of combination hinge and clamping devices are provided, and acooperating pair of mounting means are located in the frame adjacenteach edge of the cover. Thus the cover 2,762,473 Patented Sept. 11, 1955"ice can be hinged selectively from any one of four diflierent positionswith respect to the frame. Simple releasable clamping members similar tothe clamping portion of the combination device are provided along theother three edges of the cover. t

1 My invention will be better understood and further objects andadvantages will be apparent from the following description taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a plan viewof apparatus having an access cover which is fastened in accordance withmy invention; Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the combinationhinge and clamping device taken along line 22 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is aperspective exploded view of the combination hinge and clamping deviceof my invention showing the individual elements thereof.

Referring now to Fig. 1, an apparatus or structure is representedgenerally by the reference character 11. This structure may comprise,for example, a metal enclosed isolated phase electric bus duct such asis illustrated in U. S. Patent No. 2,647,940 issued on August 4, 1953,to Nathan Swerdlow and George G. Abel. An aperture 12 is provided instructure 11, for the purpose of inspection or the like. An access plateor cover 13 is placed over aperture 12 and is normally fastened to theframe formed by the portion of structure 11 surrounding the aperture. Inorder to provide for sealing this opening in structure 11, a suitablecompressible gasket 14 is disposed between cover 13 and structure 11around the aperture 12, as can be seen in the drawing. To fasten thecover 13 to structure 11, a series of clamping elements 15 is used. As amatter of convenience, it is desirable to hinge cover 13, so that thecover is attached to structure 11 when open and can readily be reclosed.Toward this end I have provided a combination hinge and clamping devicewhich is most clearly illustrated in Fig. 3.

As can be seen in Fig. 3, a hinge member 16 is rigidly fixed as bywelding to cover 13 along a convenient edge 17 thereof. Hinge member 16.extends beyond this hinged edge and is bent to form a sleeve bearing 18having an axis parallel to edge 17. The combination hinge andclamping'device' includes an L-shaped bracket 19. The upstandingportion'of bracket 19 is provided with a tapped hole 20, and bracket 19is disposed so that hole 20 is parallel to the hinged edge 17 of cover13. A bolt 21, when screwed into tapped hole 20, serves as a hinge pin.Hinge member 16, and thus cover 13, pivots about bolt 21 which extendsthrough the sleeve bearing 18 and is threaded into tapped hole 20. Hingemember 16 is held between bracket 19 and the head of bolt 21. Bracket 19is rigidly secured to the structure 11 by means of the clamping portionof the combination hinge and clamping device.

The clamping portion of the combination hinge and clamping devicecomprises a clamping lug 22 and a bolt 23. A hole extends vertically, asviewed in the drawing, through the boss 24 of lug 22, and acorresponding hole 25 is provided in the base of bracket 19. Structure11 is provided with mounting means comprising, for example, a suitablylocated hole 26 and a threaded socket 27 which is preferably welded tothe underside of structure 11, as viewed in the drawing, in line withhole 26. Socket 27 can be seen in Fig. 2. Other suitable mounting meansmay be used in lieu of the arrangement illustrated. As is clearly shownby Fig. 3, bracket 19 becomes anchored to structure 11 by extending bolt23 through both the hole in clamping lug 22 and the hole 25 in the baseof bracket 19 and by threading bolt 23 into socket 27. Thus bracket 19and clamping lug 22 are held by the head of bolt 23 and can be clampedto structure 11 thereby.

Clamping lug 22 projects over cover 13. By fully an identicalpredetermined convenient distance.

tightening bolt 23 when lug 22 overlaps cover 13, gasket 14 iscompressed and cover 13 is firmly clamped over aperture 12. Thethickness of the base of bracket 19 and the configuration of clampinglug 22 determine the maximum compression of gasket 14. Thus, these twoparts are constructed to result in a desired predetermined amount ofcompression of gasket 14. A lock washer 28 is used to bind bolt 23 whenfully. tightened. Pig. 2 illustrates the combination hinge and clampingdevice with lug 22 in a clamping position and bolt 23 fully tight--ened. The cover 13 cannot be moved about its hinge, of

course as long as lug 22 is in its clamping position. Therefore, bolt 23of the combination hinge-clamp assembly must be loosened and lug 22swung clear of cover 13 before cover 13 can be opened. This procedureinsures that gasket 14 is fully decompressed before cover 13 is moved onits hinge. The sleeve bearing 18 should be constructed to have anelongated cross-section as shown in order to provide sufficientclearance between the bearing 18 and hinge pin 21 to permit the cover 13to move in accordance with the degree of compression of gasket 14.

Returning to Fig. 1, it can be seen that in the illustrated embodimentof my invention, cover 13 is square and has two hinge members 16 fixedthereto. Three mounting means, each comprising hole 26 and socket 27,are located in a row adjacent each edge of cover 13, and

the two outer holes 26 in each row are spaced apart by The two hingemembers 16 fixed to cover 13 are spaced apart by a distance whichcorresponds to this predetermined distance between each pair of outermounting means. Two combination hinge and clamping devices arefurnished, and, because of the identity in spacing between the mountingmeans in each of the four rows, these two devices may be mounted by thepair of outer mounting means located along any one of the four sides ofaperture 12. Thus the hinged edge 17 of cover 13 may be positionedselectively in any one of four alternative locations with respect to theaperture 12 in structure 11. In this manner, access cover 13 may behinged from the most convenient location in relation to the existingconditions in the particular surrounding area.

As shown in Fig. 1, a plurality of simple clamping elements 15 areprovided. Each clamping element 15 may be of any suitable form butpreferably comprises an arrangement similar to the combination hinge andclamping device described above. The hinge bracket 19 is omitted fromthe simple clamping element 15, and to compensate for the spacingprovided by the base of bracket 19, a loose fiat washer (not shown) canbe included under the boss 24 of clamping lug 22. Actually instead of aflat washer, I prefer to use a modified clamping lug 22 having a bosswhose depth is greater than that of boss 24 by an amount equal to thethickness of the base of bracket 19. The simple clamping elements 15 aresecured to the structure 11 by the mounting means each comprising hole26 and socket 27. Thus, either identical or similar parts comprising theclamping portion of the combination hinge and clamping device can beused for clamping elements 15. With this arrangement, the gasket 14 isuniformly compressed by the same predetermined amount along all fouredges of cover 13 upon fully tightening the bolt 23 of each clampingelement 15. It will be observed that before cover 13 is free to open,the bolt 23 of each simple clamping element 15 must be loosened and thelug 22 swung clear of cover 13. In this manner gasket 14 is uniformlyand entirely decompressed before cover is moved about its hinge, anduneven compression and decompression of gasket 14 along the hinged edge17 of cover 13 is prevented.

While I have shown and described a preferred form of my invention by wayof illustration, many modifications will occur to those skilled in theart. I, therefore,

contemplate by the appended claims to cover all such modifications asfall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. In combination, a frame having an aperture, a cover for said aperturecomprising a generally square plate having at least two spaced aparthinge members rigidly fixed thereto at predetermined locations along ahinged edge thereof, a compressible gasket disposed between said coverand frame, a plurality of movable clamping members mounted on said frameat spaced apart intervals adjacent all four edges of said cover anddisposed for movement into overlapping and clamping relationship withsaid cover thereby to clamp said cover to said frame and uniformlycompress said gasket, at least two of said clamping members adjacenteach edge of said cover being spaced apart by a predetermined distancecorresponding to the predetermined locations of said hinge members, andat least two hinge brackets each pivotally engageable with one of saidhinge members to form a hinge therewith and adapted to be fastened tosaid frame by one of said clamping members, whereby the hinged edge ofsaid cover can be located selectively in any one of four positions withrespect to the aperture in said frame, so that hinging movement of saidcover is prevented unless all said clamping members are released therebyuniformly and evenly decompressingsaid gasket.

2. In combination, a frame, a cover for said frame including a hingemember rigidly fixed thereto, and a combination hinge and clampingdevice including a'hinge portion disposed in cooperating pivotalrelationship with said hinge member and having a clamping portiondisposed to anchor said hinge portion to said frame and to releasablyclamp said cover to said frame, whereby said clamping portion must bereleased before said cover can be pivoted about said hinge portion.

3. In combination, a frame, a cover for said frame including a hingemember rigidly fixed thereto, a compressible gasket disposed betweensaid cover and frame, and a combination hinge and clamping devicemounted on said frame including a hinge portion disposed in cooperatingpivotal relationship with said hinge member thereby forming a hinge forsaid cover and having a movable clamping portion disposed for movementinto overlapping relationship with said cover and for clamping saidcover andsaid hinge portion to said frame to compress said gasket and toprevent opening pivotal movement of said cover until said gasket hasbeen decompressed by release of said clamping portion.

4. In combination, a frame, a cover for said frame including a pair ofbinge members rigidly fixed thereto in predetermined spaced apartrelationship, and a pair of combination hinge and clamping devices eachincluding a hinge portion pivotally engageable with one of said hingemembers and a clamping portion disposed for clamping engagement withsaid cover, said frame being provided with a plurality of pairs ofpredetermined spaced apart mounting means for said combination hinge andclamping devices, whereby said cover can be hinged and clamped to saidframe in a plurality of alternative locations.

5. In combination, a frame, a cover for said frame including a pair ofspaced apart hinge members rigidly fixed along one edge of said cover, acompressible gasket disposed between said cover and frame, a pair ofcombination hinge and clamping devices each including a movable clampingportion and each having a hinge portion suitable for cooperation withone of said hinge members to form a hinge for said cover, at least onepair of spaced apart mounting means located on said frame for mountingsaid combination hinge and clamping devices thereby to permit said coverto be hinged in at least one location with respect to said frame, saidclamping portions disposed to overlap said cover and releasably clampsaid cover to said frame thereby compressing said gasket, wherebyopening hinging movement of said cover is prevented until said gaskethas been decompressed by releasing said clamping portions from saidcover.

6. In combination, a frame defining an opening, a cover for closing saidopening, a gasket disposed between said cover and said frame, a firsthinge member secured to said cover, a second hinge member cooperatingwith said first member, a hinge pin mounted on one of said members, asleeve bearing for said pin on the other of said members havingsubstantial clearance with respect to said pin to provide hingingmovement of said cover without substantially compressing said gasket,and a combined clamping and hinging device including said 15 2493980 6 1second hinge member and a clamping member disposed for movement intooverlapping relationship with said cover for clamping said cover andsaid second hinge member to said frame to compress said gasket and toprevent opening hinging movement of said cover until said gasket hasbeen decompressed by release of said clamping member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,162,502 Miller Nov. 30, 1915 1,462,124 Pierce July 17, 1923 2,329,716Johnson Sept. 21, 1943 Lambert Jan. 10, 1950

